Dan Wolf
Virginia Christian Alliance
The last article (Making Sense of Orlando) described how we are in an ideological war, one that has been declared upon us simply because of what we believe, and has been waged for the last fifteen to twenty years. If you think this is not true, ask yourself are we on the right track as a nation today? If you are like most Americans, you do not. Why? What is wrong? There are two main thrusts, security and economics, and these are related through morality – or rather the lack of it.
Control is being exerted using fear and misinformation instead of knowledge. When horrific events happen like those in Orlando, San Bernadino, Boston, 9/11, etc. we can become fearful, and at those times we are apt to willingly give up some of our rights and freedoms in exchange for security – to take away the fear. Haven’t political elites called for more controls as a result of each of these events? At its heart, these are simply the tools of collectivism which I have written about in Do You Want to be Free and Collectivism and Charity (forthcoming later this month), and Islam is another ideological form of collectivism. An ideology which forbids questioning or using reason, where only acceptance is allowed. An ideology where nothing matters below the State, which is true of all collectivism’s forms – whether they call themselves communists, fascists, progressives, or socialists.
So how does one win such a war? You first become informed; you get educated in the facts. There are many ways to do this, but one avenue is to learn from a trustworthy source who already has the knowledge you seek – someone who can act as a teacher. The Daily Caller’s recent interview of former DOD official Rich Higgins provides such an avenue related to the struggle mentioned above. In fighting an ideological war, one must understand: (1) who you are and what you stand for, and (2) know and understand your enemy. You need to define and understand the conflict in moral terms. God alone provides the basis for morality. It is only when we are turned toward Him and fulfilling our purpose that we find our moral compass. That basic thought forms much of the foundation for our society, and we have to look no further than our Declaration of Independence to see it.
All collectivism looks to man for morality, and it has always failed to work because at its heart it trys either to replace God or remove Him altogether from society, by getting one to focus on themselves rather than each other. To focus on self-love instead of self-sacrifice, and that path leads to the promotion of vice rather than virtue. Isn’t that what we see today in all of the events mentioned above, and others occuring in our society almost daily now? We can include in that list last nights killing of several police officers in Dallas. We are seeing the disintegration of society and the rise of lawlessness, of caring for self over others. Forms of vice being cloaked and paraded as virtue.
To win an ideological war requires education and clear communication. The latter is why words matter. They allow us to define ourselves, those who oppose us, and to determine the nature and degree of any threat they pose. Over the last four or five years, the government has attempted to either purge certain terms from our vocabulary or redefine them. This action prevents us from understanding who we are and what we face. It is why their purging of terms from government documents, communications, and speech have had such a detrimental effect. You cannot allow others to define terms for you, instead you must be willing to put in the effort to understand so you can see clearly – despite the words being used. Articles to help understand this ideological war can be found at the Virginia Christian Alliance and Living Rightly web sites.
It it through knowledge, and then taking actions upon it, that one wins an ideological war. The good news is that we can change course any time, we just need the will to do it.
